EcommerceShopify App

Hello Studio, a Shopify section marketplace — case study: Skip the builderPick a sectionMake it yours

211 Presets19 Categories

A section marketplace inside the Shopify admin. Merchants pick ready-made sections, buy them once, and install them straight into their own theme as native Liquid.

Discuss a projectSee the journey
Hello Studio's My Sections screen in the Shopify admin, on a laptop standing on a stone pedestal
Hello Studio's My Sections screen in a browser: the active theme, Change Theme and Open in Shopify, a section search with filters, and Tab Timeline, Video Gallery and Price Table cards marked Installed

About the Project

Hello Studio is a section marketplace inside the Shopify admin, not a page builder. A merchant browses 90 ready-made sections across 19 categories, adds any of the 48 free ones instantly or buys a premium section for $7.99 once, bundles several for a volume discount, and installs the presets they want straight into any theme. What lands is native Liquid, real files in their own theme, not a storefront script, so the sections keep working after the app is gone. 211 installable presets. Five merchant surfaces. One design system holding it together.

Built for Shopify merchants who want polished storefront sections without hiring a developer for each one, and without a page builder that keeps its sections hostage to a subscription.

Project
Hello Studio
Industry
SaaS / Shopify App
Platform
Shopify App
Status
Pre-launch
Built by
HelloDevs

02The system gap

The Problem

Problem 1

Too many theme-building options

Merchants need to browse and compare sections across 19 categories, making it difficult to find the right components quickly. Building a polished storefront often means piecing together sections from different sources and tools.

Solution

One native section marketplace

Hello Studio brings 211 ready-made presets into the Shopify admin, with free and premium sections that merchants can browse, bundle, purchase and install directly into any theme.

Problem 2

Sections that don't truly belong to the store

Many third-party solutions rely on scripts or page-builder systems that create dependencies, limiting control and potentially leaving merchants tied to the app.

03Inside the app

Six surfaces, one system

Marketplace, preview, setup guide, My Sections, bundles and requests share one calm design language, so a merchant never relearns the app between them.

  1. 1Marketplace

    Browse by what the store needs

    Sections are filed by category, with search, Free, New and Featured shortcuts and a filter panel for category, sort and price. Each card shows its preset count and a one-line description before anything is opened.

    Hello Studio Marketplace in the Shopify admin: a search bar, Free, New, Featured and Filters buttons, category pills from Blog to Instagram, and four section cards — Text scroll Focus 1, Letter Animation 1, Image with Text 2 and Before After — each with Preview and Add.
    The Filters panel: Categories, Sort and Price on the left, and a list of categories with their section counts on the right.

  2. 2Preview

    See it before you pay for it

    Every section opens in a desktop, tablet and mobile preview with all of its presets, a link to a live preview, and the price beside Add to theme.

    The section panel for Style the look 5 on its Overview tab: a device preview of the section on desktop, tablet and phone, a description, View live preview, its presets, and $7.99 with Add to theme.

  3. 3Customize

    Every setting, up front

    A Customize tab lists the theme-editor settings a section exposes — headings, fonts, sizes and spacing — so a merchant knows how far it bends before buying it.

    The section panel for Style the look 2 on its Customize tab: a dark lookbook preview beside the customisation options — heading, heading HTML tag, font family and heading font size.

  4. 4Guide

    A setup guide for each section

    Installation steps, documentation, support and community links sit in the same panel, so help is one tab away rather than in a separate inbox.

    The section panel for Style the look 3 on its Guide tab: installation and setup steps — video tutorial, documentation, get support and community — with a pro tip and Add to theme.

  5. 5My Sections

    A library tied to the theme

    My Sections shows what the merchant owns for the active theme: which sections are installed, how many presets each has, and how many themes it is in — with search and In a theme / Not added yet filters.

    My Sections: the active theme marked Live with Change Theme and Open in Shopify, a search field with All, In a theme and Not added yet filters, and Tab Timeline, Video Gallery and Price Table cards marked Installed.

  6. 6Request

    Ask for what isn't there yet

    When the catalogue lacks a section, merchants describe it, add a reference link and attach screenshots or sketches. Requests are recorded, not lost in a support thread.

    The Request a section form: an optional section category, a description, a reference or inspiration URL, a screenshot upload area, and Submit Request.

04Bundles

Buy more, pay less

Bundles turn several one-time purchases into one checkout, with a discount that climbs as sections are added. Try the ladder.

20% unlocked

  1. 10%from 3 sections
  2. 20%from 5 sections
  3. 30%from 8 sections
  4. 40%from 12 sections
Subtotal · 5 × $7.99
$39.95
Bundle saving (20%)
−$7.99
Total, paid once
$31.96

Add 3 more sections to save 30%.

Illustration using Hello Studio's flat $7.99 price and its bundle tiers. In the app, totals are recomputed on the server at quote time and again at checkout.

The Your bundle panel: 20% unlocked, next 30% at 8, a list of six sections at $7.99 each, the bundle saving, a $38.35 total and a Checkout button.
The Your bundle panel in the app

05Core journey

From browsing to live in the theme

The path the app is designed around — four steps, all inside the Shopify admin.

  1. 01

    Installation

    Hello Studio installs from Shopify and opens in the admin, on the merchant's active theme.

    A tablet showing Hello Studio's My Sections screen in the Shopify admin.
  2. 02

    Section selection

    The merchant browses the Marketplace, filters by category and previews sections on every device.

    A laptop showing the Hello Studio Marketplace with section cards.
  3. 03

    Section configuration

    Presets and settings are visible before purchase; free sections are added at once, premium ones bought once through Shopify billing.

    The section Customize tab with its list of settings.
  4. 04

    Implementation

    The chosen presets are written into the theme as Liquid files and appear in the theme editor like any other section.

    A laptop showing My Sections with sections marked Installed in the active theme.

06Screens

In the frame

  • A MacBook Air at an angle showing My Sections.

    My Sections, on the active theme

  • A laptop showing Build your bundle, with discount tiers and the bundle panel.

    Build your bundle

  • A tablet showing the Request a section form.

    Request a section

  • A laptop showing the Marketplace.

    Marketplace

  • A tablet on a stand showing My Sections.

    My Sections on tablet

07Under the hood

Native Liquid, yours for good

“Buy it and own it” only holds if installation works a particular way. These are the decisions behind it, from the app's code.

  1. 01

    Written into the theme, not rendered by the app

    Installation writes each preset into the merchant's theme through Shopify's themeFilesUpsert mutation. There is deliberately no storefront script, so sections keep working after uninstall.

  2. 02

    One gate for every paid install

    A single entitlement check guards every path that can put Liquid into a theme, so there is no route to a paid section that skips payment.

  3. 03

    Prices never trusted from the browser

    Bundle totals are recomputed from the database at quote time and again at checkout; one-time purchases are confirmed by Shopify's purchase webhook, not the return redirect.

  4. 04

    Safe to install twice

    Writing a named theme file is idempotent: reinstalling replaces the section instead of duplicating it.

  • Remix
  • React
  • App Bridge
  • Tailwind CSS
  • MongoDB
  • Prisma
  • Shopify Billing API
  • Admin GraphQL API
Illustration: translucent violet and peach layers, like page sections, settling into a dark block that stands for the store's theme.

08Design system

Calm by design

  1. Clarity over decoration

    Heavy decoration removed and contrast reduced for a calm, airy read; white space and thin rules carry the structure.

  2. Subtle typography hierarchy

    Light, clean type with generous line height. Bold only where it serves structure; headings large enough to breathe.

  3. Airy structure

    Thin rules between sections, generous padding and a light ground keep the mood calm and modern.

Quicksand

12 · 16 · 20 · 24 · 30 · 32px

Headings

Inter

12 · 16 · 20 · 24px

Body and subheadings

09Services

Need something like this?

Hello Studio is HelloDevs' own product. The same team builds Shopify apps, sections and storefronts for merchants and agencies.

10FAQ

Questions, answered

Still have a question?

Ask about Hello Studio, or about building something like it.

Ask ushello@hellodevs.co

About Hello Studio

What is Hello Studio?

Hello Studio is a Shopify app that works as a marketplace of ready-made theme sections. Merchants browse sections inside the Shopify admin, add free ones instantly or buy premium ones once, and install them into any of their themes in one click. Every section is native Liquid, with no page-builder layer and no app script on the storefront.

Do I need to know how to code to add a section to my Shopify theme?

No. Installing a section writes the file into the theme for you. Text, images, colours, spacing and layout are then customised in Shopify's own theme editor, like any section that shipped with the theme.

Will a sections app slow down my Shopify store?

Not this one. Hello Studio's sections become part of the theme instead of loading from an external server, so there is no app script, no external request and no render blocking. A section only loads its CSS and JavaScript on the pages where it is actually placed.

Which Shopify themes does Hello Studio support?

Any Online Store 2.0 theme — Dawn, Refresh, Craft, Sense and most paid themes released since mid-2021. Sections are written to the theme's sections folder and appear in the theme editor's Add section menu. Older vintage themes are not supported.

What happens to the sections if the app is uninstalled?

They keep working. The section files live in the merchant's theme, not on Hello Studio's servers, so uninstalling the app changes nothing on the storefront. Updates and new installs stop; nothing breaks or disappears.

Is Hello Studio a subscription?

No. Premium sections are a one-time charge, billed through Shopify, with no recurring fee and no expiry. A purchase covers every preset of that section, future updates, and use on every theme in the store. Free sections install the same way, with no card or trial.

What is a section preset?

A preset is a ready-made design variant of a section — the same section with a genuinely different layout. Presets never cost extra, and several can be installed side by side, each appearing as its own entry in the theme editor.

Is Hello Studio on the Shopify App Store?

Not yet. The app is built and deployed, and its App Store submission is pending.

Working with HelloDevs

Can HelloDevs build a Shopify app like Hello Studio for my business?

Yes. Hello Studio covers most of what a serious Shopify app needs — an embedded admin, one-time and bundle billing through Shopify, writing files into themes, and the mandatory privacy webhooks. We build the same for clients, as public App Store apps or custom apps for one store. See Shopify app development.

Can you build custom sections for our own Shopify theme?

Yes. Custom Online Store 2.0 sections that your team configures in the theme editor are a large part of our Shopify theme development work — the same kind of section Hello Studio sells, built for your brand alone.

How does a Shopify app safely add code to a merchant's theme?

Through Shopify's theme files API, with the merchant's permission. Hello Studio writes each preset as its own Liquid file, checks payment inside the same service that writes it, and overwrites rather than duplicates on reinstall. For storefront features that should disappear with the app, theme app extensions are usually the better tool — we choose per feature.

Who owns the code if HelloDevs builds our app?

You do, completely. The code lives in your repository from the first commit, so nothing about your product depends on us if you stop working with HelloDevs.

How do we start a project with HelloDevs?

Tell us what you are building through the contact form or at hello@hellodevs.co. If you need ongoing help rather than a project, you can also hire a Shopify app developer.

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Let's connecthello@hellodevs.co

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